Archive for July, 2010

As with the squirrels and rabbits we will probably not be able to keep that other most unwelcome of pests – the common thief – from damaging/taking our produce but we can again make life difficult for them.

Firstly we can make sure the gate is securely closed and locked when we are last to leave.

Secondly – take an interest in who is on the site. If we all speak to each other and start to get to know who works what plot we are more likely to spot a ‘stranger’.

After having my self planted over a hundred leeks and carefully netted them last week it was heart breaking to go down a few days later and find that something had chewed through the netting and eaten the very tip of every one of them!

Rabbits /squirrels are as we all know a real issue and although it is idealistic to think we can rabbit proof the entire allotment and make it a rabbit /squirrel free zone we can try and keep the numbers down as best as we can.

Both pests like cover and we can all do our bit to make life more difficult for them by keeping our plost well tended and the grass/weeds on the paths and surrounding areas as short as possible – otherwise we’ll be feeding the rabbits instead of ourselves!

The Borehole is in place, the pump is in place and the tanks are in place – unfortunately there is one vital link in the system that we don’t have yet – a generator to run the pump!

A new generator has been sourced and with a £15 per plot levy we can get a generator purchased and installed very quickly.

If you can try and make the payment to Graham McKerrigan as soon as possible then we will hopefully soon have a plentiful supply of water for the rest of the season. (although being Scotland it will probably rainnon-stop for the rest of the summer!)